Morocco bus crash kills eight French tourists

TAROUDANT, Morocco, March 30 (AFP) - Eight French tourists died in Morocco when a four-wheel drive vehicle crashed into their bus, causing it to lose control, French officials said Wednesday.

TAROUDANT, Morocco, March 30 (AFP) - Eight French tourists died in Morocco when a four-wheel drive vehicle crashed into their bus, causing it to lose control, French officials said Wednesday.

The accident, which occurred midday Tuesday in a rural area some 650 kilometers (400 miles) southwest of Rabat when a passing maneuver by the four-wheel drive apparently went awry, also seriously injured 11 people.

One of the seriously injured was British, the French general consul in Rabat Bruno Perdu told the official MAP news agency. In all, some 45 people were hurt.

Perdu said the four-wheel drive with two British women on board was trying to pass the bus when it crashed into it several times. Trying to avoid the vehicle, the driver lost control of the bus.

The bus, chartered by a French travel agency, was on a 10-day tour that had stopped off in Casablanca, Fez and was due to end in Agadir.